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18 WILMETTE LIFE, FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1924 PHONE GROWTH BREAKS RECORD Illinois Bell Adds 73,000 Stations In 1923 By W. R. ABBOTT (President, Illinois Bell Telephone Company.) A net gain of 73,280 telephone sta- tions in 1923 in the territory served by it is the record of the Illinois Bell Telephone Company. All previous records for telephone station growth were broken in the new mark set by the company. The 1923 figure was 13.3 per cent greater than the highest previous year. To obtain this new high mark the company made a total of 197,361 tele- phone installations, and discontinued a total of 124,081 telephones. The station gain in Chicago alone was 51,951. At the end of the year the number of telephones in Chicago was 692,645. Program for Year During ' 1 the company spent for extensions to its plant approximately $18,000,000. For 1924, for similar work, the company will spend approximately $19,500,000. The additions are necessary to meet the demands of the public, and also to take care of added use of the tele- phone. In 1922 the daily average num- ber of calls handled by the company was 4,154,931. This was increased to a daily average of 4,635,101 in 1923. With the added telephone stations must be provided additional plant. Every new telephone must have facil- ities for connection with every other telephone. During the war the demands of the government for both material and manufactured goods used in the elec trical industries was greater than for almost any other class of commodities and this demand took precedence over any other needs. The result was that for some time after the close of the war there was a shortage of equip- ment needed by telephone companies. This shortage and the rapid growth of Chicago and many other places in the state has made it difficult for us to keep up with the demand for ex- tension of our service. But we are making great efforts to meet this de- mand, as evidenced by our record of growth for 1923. The year has been an active one in every department of our business. The large growth as outlined above has called for the most active work on the part of the Engineering and Con- struction Departments and the in- crease in the number of our tele- phones has naturally brought increase in the Traffic, Accounting and Com- mercial work. The number of em- ployees in telephone work in Illinois is steadily increasing. The Illinois Bell now has on its pay rolls more than 24,000 persons. Although the station growth and the additional numb' r of calls were large, our service, both local and long distance, has been good throughout the year. Machine Switching Exchanges In June and August we placed in service in Chicago the first machine switching offices--Central and State, serving about 23,000 telephones in the down-town district of Chicago. The operation of these exchanges has been very satisfactory and the subscribers are pleased with the service. During the year we offered and sold common stock of our company of a par value of $10,000,000, also an issue of $50,000,000 first and refunding mortgage 5 per cent bonds. From the proceeds of this sale we retired the first mortgage bonds of the Chi- cago Telephone Company due Decem- ber 1. The remainder of the funds will be used in our construction pro- gram. On March 11, a heavy storm did considerable damage to our property in the Chicago Suburban and Illinois Divisions. This damage was repaired and segyice restored. This storm furnished a very valuable object les- son of the value of an adequate de- preciation reserve. Near Million Mark In State Auto Licenses A total of 973,791 automobile li- censes were issued during 1923 and $14,363,000 in fees collected. Secre- tary of State Emmerson announced this week. It constitutes the most remarkable record in Illinois' history, he said. Comparing the figures with those of the preceding year, which had hitherto held the record, it is shown that in 1922 the total collections were $11,943,376, for which 786.190 licenses were issued. The vast increase in the volume of business handled by his depart- ment has by no means overwhelmed it. Mr Kmnu-rson said. Me pointed out that already there have been issued 92.787 automobile licenses for 1924. with collections of more than $1.000/200. INSULL CITES P. S. GROWTH Serves One-Tenth of State Of Illinois In an address recently before the employes of the Public Service com- pany, Samuel Insull, chairman of the Board told some interesting facts con- cerning the company. It operates over an area of about six thousand square miles. That is equal to an area of about three- fotfrths the size of the state of New Jersey; about one and-fourth times the size of the state of Connecticut; about three times the size of the state of Delaware and between five and six times the size of the state of Rhode Island. 10 Per Cent of State There are between 56,000 and 57,000 square miles in the whole state of Illinois, and the company operates over 10.5 per cent of that territory. The population of the state today is between 6750,000 and 7,000,000 and the population served is about 750,000. The company's business has grown from a little over $6,000,000 gross busi- ness in 1914 to a little -under $16,000.- 000 in 1923, an increase in that period of over 163 per cent. The maximum demand in 1914 was a little under 31,000 kilowatts, and the maximum demand in December 1923 is over 108,000 kilowatts. Big Output Increase In 1924 the output was upwards of 120.000,000 kilowatt hours. In 1923 there will be a little under 350,000,000 kilowatt hours. In 1914 the connected load was near- ly 113,000 kilowatts. In 1923 the con- nected load is a little over 295,000 kilo- watts. In 1912 the company used about 5.7 pounds of coal per kilowatt hour and in 1923 under 2y2 pounds per kilowatt hour. In 1914 the company put out over 1.300.000.000 cupic feet of gas and in 1923 the total will be over 3,200,000.- 000 cubic feet of gas. In 1914 the company had 1,781 em- ployes and this year has 3,764. Evaniton to Glencoe Shop 1124 Greenleaf Ave. Phone Wil. 15* Established 1906 A. C. WOLFF's TIN SHOP Furnaces and Repairs Cleaning and Repairing GUTTERS. SPOUTS, SKY- LIGHTS, TILE, SLATE AND LEAKY ROOFS I'rrxonal Supervlatoa Covered by Workmen's (on* penaatloa Insurance Office 607 Main St. Phone Wil. 296 it Start the New Year Right!" Eat your meals at the Sheridan Cafe. You'll be starting right. THE SHERIDAN CAFE ""S&JT' Merchant's Lunch Served from 11:30 to 2 For Your Drug Store Needs Call Snider-Cazel Drug Co. Phones Wilmette 400-401 Wilmette and Central Ave*. Timely Repair Means Extra Wear Have those old shoes repaired and you will be money ahead. No job is too small for us. Workmanship Guaranteed MILLER'S SHOE SHOP Successor to A. Kaspar 609 MAIN STREET WILMETTE Phone Wilmette 2600 721 Main Street WILMETTE, ILL MOTORS SERVICE, Inc. Everything for the Automobile Winter Necessities Winter Fronts which are Automatic Radiator Shutters Radiator Covers Skid Chains Weed--DeLuxe and Regular Heaters Alcohol J. C. Slown A. B. Van Deusen That Taste of Refinement that goes with a car properly painted can unhesitatingly be ap- plied to the automobiles that leave our shop. We understand the harmony of colors and we can prove to you that simplicity is an attribute of beauty. If you cannot decide upon the color best suited to your car, put the responsibility on our shoulders. The only real protection against the elements. Our paint is car insurance. Robert W. Mclntyre Rear of Wilmette State Bank Phone Wil. 684 EVANSTON BUILDING MATERIAL COMPANY EVANSTON, ILLINOIS Phone Evanston 8906 Simpson St. and C. & N. W. Trrcks DANNEMARK'S ELECTRIC SHOP 1155 WILMETTE AVENUE WILMETTE VACUUM CLEANERS SIMPLEX IRONERS WASHING MACHINES FIXTURES APPLIANCES WIRING "PROFIT BY OUR SERVICE OPPOSITE VILLAGE THEATRE TELEPHONE WILMETTF 214 Giving the Telephone Life Wherever your thought goes your voice may go. You can talk across the conti- nent as if face to face. Your telephone is the latch to open for you any door in the land. There is the web of wires. The many switch- boards. The maze of apparatus. The millions of telephones. All are parts of a country-wide mechanism for far-speaking. The equipment has cost over two billion dollars, but more than equipment is needed. There must be the guardians of the wires to keep them vital with speech-carrying elec- trical currents. There must be those who watch the myriads of tiny switchboard lights and answer your commands. There must be technicians of every sort to construct, repair and operate. A quarter of a million men and women are united to give nation-wide telephone service. With their brains and hands they make the Bell System live. %ell System One Policy • One System Universal Service And All Directed Towards Better Service Illinois Bell Telephone Company